The present invention relates to an ID issue management system which issues an ID serving as identification information to an article such as a commodity, an article information management system which conducts management on article information by using IDs, and an ID issue management method.
Each of commodities sold at stores and articles such as books provided to be perused at libraries is often provided with an ID (Identification) to distinguish it from other articles. Recently, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags (hereafter abbreviated to RF tags) using wireless communication techniques are rapidly spreading. The RF tags are called IC (Integrated Circuit) tags, wireless tags, or electronic tags as well, and each of the RF tags includes an IC chip and an antenna. If this RF tag is attached to or embedded in an article, an ID concerning the article can be transmitted toward an RFID reader or an RFID reader/writer (hereafter simply abbreviated to RFID reader) over radio waves.
Therefore, it is possible for an RFID reader or an application software using an RFID reader to uniquely identify an article having an RF tag attached thereto by the ID. If data concerning articles associated with respective IDs are registered in a predetermined place, therefore, data concerning pertinent articles can be searched and retrieved by using these IDs as key information. As a result, management of articles is facilitated. For example, a system which implements management on movement of goods in a warehouse and shipment by issuing tags based on the information on receipt slips has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-287814 (paragraph No. 0009 and FIG. 1)).
In this proposed system, RF tags are only used within the warehouse and does not go through supply chain. Therefore, it is sufficient to keep the uniqueness of IDs within the range of a single warehouse not through the overall supply chain. However, articles such as commodities going through supply chains are handled by multiple parties such as product manufacturers, distribution centers, and retail stores. A system of IDs used in one closed region such as the warehouse cannot be used as it is.
As for standards of IDs used on RF tags, for example, the EPC (Electronic Product Code) prescribed by the EPC global serving as a nonprofit organization is proposed. The EPC has a data structure of 96 bit length.
FIG. 18 shows a data structure of the EPC. An EPC 100 includes an 8-bit header 101, a 28-bit domain manager 102, a 24-bit object class 103, and a 36-bit serial number 104. Among them, the header 101 represents a version of the EPC 100 itself. The domain manager 102 indicates the unit of management of the object class 103 and the serial number 104. The domain manager 102 is typically assigned to each enterprise. The object class 103 indicates the unit of management of the serial number 104. The object class 103 is typically assigned to each classification of products (articles). The serial number 104 is an individual identification number of a pertinent product in a pertinent enterprise.
In order to conduct identification and information management on articles by using RF tags, it is necessary to attach these RF tags in manufacturing processes of respective articles. At this time, it is proposed as one technique to store RF tags with pre-assigned IDs, suitably select RF tags associated with respective articles, and attach the RF tags to the articles. If this technique is adopted, however, it is necessary to store and attach RF tags very carefully so as to properly ensure associations of RF tags with articles to which the RF tags are to be attached. Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently reduce the cost required to store and attach RF tags.
Therefore, it is proposed to prepare blank RF tags to which IDs are not yet written and write IDs to RF tags after those are attached to articles. According to this proposal, however, issuing an ID is not started until it is detected that an RF tag attached to an article is a blank RF tag. As for IDs stored in RF tags, it is ensured that no two or more same IDs are present by classifying every article with the object class 103 and combining the object class with the unique serial number 104 as evident from the standards shown in FIG. 18.
If IDs are issued in advance for respective article classifications and they are assigned to respective associated articles, there is no possibility that a duplicate ID will be issued. When issuing and writing an ID into an RF tag having a blank ID, however, issuer of the IDs must avoid issuing the same IDs as previously issued ones and issuing IDs whose object class are different from the article classification to which the RF tag is attached.